Sesame Jaggery Ball Supplementation as a Dietary Adjunct Therapy in Treating Moderate Iron Deficiency Anemia Among Children Aged 6–11 Years in South India: An Open-Labeled Randomized Controlled Trial

The prevalence of iron deficient anemia in Indian children has continued to be high for decades, despite drastic measures. Natural food dietary diversification with foodstuffs prepared at home using locally available ingredients could be helpful to counter childhood anemia. In this open-labelled randomized controlled trial, 82 consecutive children aged 6-11 years diagnosed with moderate iron deficiency anemia were randomized into two groups. Children in the control group received 3 mg/kg/day of elemental iron orally in a syrup form, for eight weeks. In addition to the oral iron syrup in the same dose, the intervention group received one sesame jaggery ball (containing 60 g of sesame seeds and jaggery each) for eight weeks. The increases in hemoglobin (Hb) at 4 and 8 weeks were estimated as the primary outcomes. The increases in serum ferritin and body weight at eight weeks were measured as the secondary outcomes. The increase in the median Hb levels of the intervention group at four weeks [0.9 (0.6, 1.5) Vs 0.8 (0.4, 1.2), p-0.045] and eight weeks [1.7 (1.0, 2.4) Vs 1.3 (0.6, 2.0), p-0.013] were statistically more significant than the control group. Likewise, the increase in the serum ferritin levels [10.7 (6.4, 16.7) Vs 6.2 (4.6, 13.3), p-0.015] and body weight [0.8 (0.3, 1.4) Vs 0.1 (-0.4, 0.6)] in the intervention group were significantly more than in the control group. Besides routine oral iron syrup, daily supplementation of sesame jaggery balls in moderate iron-deficient anemic children improves their iron status.